Book Review: Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
“The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World” is a fascinating read that highlights the empowering work Melinda and Bill Gates have done through the Gates Foundation.
Transcript
Kasey Jones: I recently read The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates and I highly recommend this book for anybody. But especially if you are particularly interested in the work that the Gates Foundation does or the work that is impacting our world, and some of the issues that are impacting our world.
What is particularly interesting about this book is she really breaks down her and Bill Gates sort of journey to discovering that so much of the things that they wanted to accomplish and the differences that they wanted to make in the world really hinged on helping women. Helping girls and women lead more independent autonomous empowered lives, and I really appreciate that Melinda Gates really talks about how this concept of women's empowerment can sometimes feel a little superficial, a little, I don't know, like it's not getting to the heart of anything.
It's become this sort of buzzword and you know, there's been a lot of research, a lot of commentary, around the sort of monetization of this concept of women's empowerment and I agree, like women's empowerment businesses are an industry of their own and often times it feels actually condescending to women. And so I appreciate that she kind of addresses that head on and talks about how you know, it's really easy to dismiss that but when they really look at the data, it's helping women be more autonomous, be more empowered, be more educated, be more independent, being, you know, be more financially independent, be healthier, be able to make choices for themselves and for their families.
But that has a huge impact on society in general and she really lays this out and then breaks it down into kind of these distinct segments. So everything from reproductive health to financial health and freedom and throughout this book, you know, they're obviously talking about the work that the Gates Foundation does but they also talked a lot about her family and how she got to where she is and the path that she went on in terms of of you know, figuring out her role in this foundation and I learned a lot about their relationship and I learned a lot about her journey in all of this and it's really fascinating to learn how for a while. She really wanted to take a back seat.
She wanted to be involved but she was focused on raising her family and and didn't necessarily want to take a public stance and really learning about when and why she decided to change that and some of the speed bumps that they experienced as a married couple going through that evolution.
It's pretty fascinating and I really appreciated her vulnerability and her honesty of what worked and what didn't and what was hard and what was easy and and how she's coped with all of it. She comes across as a very impressive woman and a very strong woman, but a very human woman and I very much appreciate that. I've grown really frustrated by the many books that I read where people I don't know, I feel like they're selling me something when they're they're telling me their story. And yeah, there's a little bit of that.
She's definitely crafting a strong narrative, but she's also very transparent and honest about the hard stuff, the less than pretty stuff, and I also appreciate that. It is really focused on her and her aspect or her position, her perspective in the work that they do for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and I came away with a newfound respect for her and for their work, so I highly recommend if you're interested in the many ways that people can make a difference in the world, the many ways that we can help women succeed in this world.
If you're just interested in Bill and Melinda Gates as a couple and as power entities in our world, I highly recommend this book, please share in the comments if you've read it, if you liked it, if you enjoyed it, if you didn't - what you liked, what you didn't and feel free, if this is something you're interested in click through and buy the book. I highly recommend it, and I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks.